Kickstart: The test you want to avoid

Let's say that you work in health care. Or, despite all your social distancing, you develop a fever and you're told you should be tested for COVID-19.

What does that actually mean?

Jay Greene, a reporter for sister publication Crain's Detroit Business, writes about the very, very long process of getting a test in a drive-through facility in Detroit for his wife, who works in health care. First they pulled off the freeway into a line of cars stretching for at least five blocks before they even reached the testing site. After two and a half hours, they finally reached the testing site where, of course, they had to fill out paperwork.

"Volunteers held laptop computers are were asking several questions. Are you a first responder? Do you have a driver's license? Show me your insurance card? They took pictures of both. Do you have a fever? Other symptoms?" Then there was the test itself, which sounds more invasive than expected.

And after all that, they don't expect an answer until the end of the week.

A lot of companies have turned at least part of their production over to emergency molding of masks and shields and other protective equipment.

For owners and employees, it's a way to give back. For 3D printing company Voodoo Manufacturing, it's also a very real need happening just outside its own doors.

Voodoo is in Brooklyn, in the middle of the U.S.'s COVID-19 hot spot of New York City. So when it turned all of its production over to making face shields, it wasn't sending them to a generic distribution site, but to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, just five miles away and the epicenter of the outbreak.

"Everyone on our team feels like they're being asked to do something important," CEO Max Friefeld told Frank Esposito. "That's motivation to people."

Stratasys Ltd. is joining more than a dozen companies in an eight-week "hackathon" to develop a rapidly deployable mechanical ventilator for COVID-19 patients.

The CoVent-19 Challenge is "open to teams and individuals anywhere, and finalists will work directly with Stratasys 3D printing experts and the CoVent-19 Challenge team to turn their designs into prototypes for testing," Stratasys says in an April 1 news release.

"We've been watching as countries around the world struggle with providing invasive mechanical ventilation to all who need it," said Richard Boyer, an anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who is founder and director of the challenge. "Despite the important efforts by ventilator manufacturers to ramp up their own production, there's a need for a solution particularly for areas where standard mechanical ventilators may be hard to obtain."

Find more information at coventchallenge.com.

Here's another chance to help Plastics News get you information you need.

Hollee Keller, our data guru, has a survey to help her fine-tune her questions so we gather the information people need and want.

You may have been receiving quite a few emails from Hollee lately on other subjects related to the coronavirus outbreak. Please know that we appreciate all those answers. It's a crazy and rapidly evolving industry just now, and responses to those emails are helping us track how the industry is responding to the coronavirus crisis.

And believe me, the industry has been responding in astounding ways. We don't have time to write about every project, but be aware that you're not alone out there in aiding your neighbors. And you're doing great work.

In addition, you can still share tips on how to stay sane in these crazy days. I'll share some suggestions in Friday's Kickstart. Just drop me an email at [email protected].